


photographic memory

by harryingniall



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Humor, M/M, just read it, this one is funny and cute trust me
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-17
Updated: 2016-05-16
Packaged: 2018-06-08 22:28:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6876496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/harryingniall/pseuds/harryingniall
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>niall finds his photographic memory as a curse. he finds harry as a blessing.</p>
            </blockquote>





	photographic memory

Niall thinks of his photographic memory as a curse. He hates it because usually a person doesn't want to be able to remember everything.

He really doesn't like it too because he's the most embarrassing person in his entire high school. He has made a complete fool of himself plenty of times. 

He knows some people probably don't even remember, but Niall just can't forget, obviously. Having a photographic memory and all. 

It's his last year of school, thankfully. So he tries to tell himself none of this will matter afterwards. 

He just wishes he could just talk to his crush since middle school, at least once. But he's too much of a coward to even try. Plus, he just knows that he would embarrass himself. 

That's because he knows just about everything Harry has done since seventh grade. And he just feels weird if he were to talk to him because of that. 

He's glad nobody knows of his memory, besides his dad and step mum. 

Niall lost his mum when he was little but he remembers it vividly. He was about six when his dad got the call she was in an accident. 

Yeah, so his life isn't exactly great. He doesn't have any friends. He isn't social at all. He keeps all his grades within an A or a B. He doesn't want to be a freaky straight A+ student, although he could be. 

His dad thinks hes annoying for having so much potential with his gift, but Niall just doesn't see it like that. 

He doesn't know if he overthinks everything, or what, but his life just sucks. He wishes he thought of it as a gift. 

It's Saturday night and Niall is spending it just as any other. His family has their own ice cream shop, basically in their house. It's pretty cool, actually. It just sucks Niall has to work there everyday. 

It's not like he's doing anything else, though. And it's nice because no one from school comes. 

He has to wear a stupid hat that is completely embarrassing. Has a cow on it and everything. The name of their shop is Milky Cream. It's so stupid, his stupid step mum, Andrea, thought of the name. Of course his dad pretended to like it. 

 

It's the beginning of October so it's usually sort of busy, people getting in their last bits of ice cream before the incredibly cold weather hits London. 

Yeah that's another thing. Niall's dad remarried to a British lady, so they had to move. Niall loves Ireland more than anything else in the world. They go there every summer. He loves his country. He hates it here. 

Niall's drawing around on a napkin when the door rings again. He glances up before looking back down to draw. But he shakes his head looking back up to see if he saw what he thinks he saw. 

He stands up straight already shaking as Harry approaches him. What the hell? Why is he here? He never fucking comes here. 

It's not that he's embarrassed of having to talk to Harry. He's just embarrassed he's wearing a fucking cow patterned hat with a pink apron on with gutters on it.

"Hey can I have three large milkshakes? One strawberry, two vanilla?" Harry asks while getting out his money. 

Niall just gulps, nodding, "Uh, yeah, £7.50, please," he scratches at the back of his head. He wonders who he is getting the shakes for.

The thing is too, Niall doesn't need to enter anything when he does the money. He remembers all the prices and he can do the change in his head beyond quickly. That's one nice thing. 

Harry hands him his money and Niall goes to grab him his change. He doesn't make eye contact as his hand barely touch Harry's while placing the money in his hand. 

He hurries over to make the shakes. Fuck. They have to be perfect so Harry comes here again. 

He wonders who the other two shakes are for. But of course he wouldn't ask. 

Once he's done he places them in the holder to give. He still doesn't make great contact with him as he hands the shakes over. 

But he has to look up as he feels Harry staring at him. Great. He's already embarrassed, he can feel his cheeks going hot. 

"Do I know you?" He asks. 

_Great. I'm going to fucking kill myself._

Niall coughs awkwardly, "Why would I know that?"

_Just since middle school when I moved here. We've had twelve classes together within all seven years._

Harry looks at him a little surprised before nodding, "Sorry I asked. I like your uniform," he chuckles. 

Then he just walks out. 

Niall lets out a deep breath, running his hand over his face. How humiliating.

He can't wait for first and fifth period tomorrow.

//

Niall's nervous walking into class Monday morning, it being with Harry straight off in the morning.

He knows Harry probably won't even do anything because they only spoke twenty three words to each other yesterday. Not even a good conversation. And plus, he saw him in his embarrassing work clothes. 

Great. 

He didn't get much sleep last night. He was up late watching Pretty Little Liars. Yes. Niall watches Pretty Little Liars. 

He just goes to his normal seat, letting his book bag slide off his shoulders, looking up to the board. 

The second he sits down, he hiccups. He widens his eyes. He stays still, and yup, he hiccups again. Perfect.

Harry normally walks in just as the bell is ringing along with his other friends, Zayn and Jeff. Niall always tries to avoid looking at them. Some days he can, others he finds himself just staring. 

Today he definitely won't be looking. 

The bell rings and he feels their presence but he ignores it. He draws on his notebook. He then hiccups.

The teacher, Mrs. Hilen, starts talking. 

Harry sits to Niall's left, about six seats over. Their first class together is Calculus. Second is gym.

"Can anybody tell me the definition of an improper integral? Niall?" The teacher asks. 

_A definite integral for which the integand has a discontinuity between the bounds of integration._

"Yeah, I'm not sure," Niall just shrugs, speaking out a bit nervously. He hiccups.

That was on the sheet she passed out in the beginning of the year with all the definitions and other things they would be learning. Niall read it out of boredom. Plus, he wouldn't have to pay as much attention in class if he wanted to zone out. 

The teacher moves on to asking someone else. No one knows, just like he figures. 

Or someone is just like him and has a photographic memory but pretends they don't. Nah. 

He keeps hiccuping and his cheeks go red because people are starting to turn around to look at him.

Niall feels Harry looking at him and he can't help himself as he looks up himself. He never looks at him. They make eye contact and Niall hiccups. Harry smiles at him.

Finally Mrs. Hilen finally stops talking, looking at Niall. "Do you need some water, Niall?"

Niall shakes his head, "No." 

She nods and Niall glances at Harry one last time who is still looking at him. He looks into his notebook, wanting to just sink into the ground and disappear.

His next few classes are bad, but not as bad as gym. He always embarrasses himself most there because he isn't athletic whatsoever. 

And they're doing basketball now. Great. 

There are two captains. Two guys named Jack and Louis. Names are being called. Niall isn't any of them. Literally. 

Louis just points to him because he's the last one standing there. Harry is on his team too. How amazing. 

Niall doesn't know what to do so he just runs along. No one passes him the ball anyways. 

Everybody goes so hard during every sport in gym. He guesses it's normal. Teenage boys having fun in gym, being athletic and tough like they're supposed to be. Having fun. Too bad Niall isn't like that. 

He hears the gym teacher trying to encourage him to get the rebound or whatever. He doesn't even try. 

He's staring at the basket waiting for the ball to be shot in. It doesn't.

Instead he feels the ball reflecting off the back of his head, forcing him to jerk forwards. 

His hand flies up to grab the spot where he was hit, back of head, close to his neck. He doesn't want to say it didn't hurt, because it did. 

Now he's even more embarrassed because he hears laughing. It's not like he's in urgent medical need, he's not. He just needs to leave because he can't look at any of them. He's humiliated. 

He storms off to get a drink of water from the fountain. The teacher is talking to him but he ignores him. He's mad at him for making him play this stupid game. 

Why is gym even necessary? Not everyone is made for physical activity. There is a reason why some people are in sports and others aren't. 

He wants to leave so bad. He just finishes drinking, walking back over the court, continuing to ignore the teacher. He really doesn't fucking care. 

"Ya alright? I haven't heard you say anything besides that hilarious noise that popped out of your mouth when the ball hit you," Louis laughs. 

Niall doesn't think he's making fun of him, completely. He just has that annoying humor where he's rude without really thinking about it. 

He just rolls his eyes, crossing his arms. 

"Okay," Louis gives him a look before awkwardly going back to his spot. 

Niall looks up making eye contact with Harry. 

_I wish that ball put me into a coma._

Harry just gives the smallest smile before continuing the game. Why does he keep looking at him and smiling? 

The bell rings to change so Niall hurries into the locker room as fast as he can. 

He is always the first one to be done and out the door heading to his next class. It's kind of just a bad habit of his. 

"Horan, I want to talk to you." 

Niall is shirtless when he looks up to his gym teacher. Great. 

He hurries to change before walking over to him. He looks mad. 

"You know I was talking to you, right? Wanted to see if you alright." He asks. 

Niall just nods. "Yeah." 

He gives him a look that isn't too happy. At all. It's not Niall's fault. He asked and he didn't lie.

"So you were ignoring me?" He furrows his eyebrows.

Niall nods once again. "Yeah." 

He definitely doesn't know what to say. Niall doesn't even care. He doesn't even know his name. 

"So what does that say about you?" He crosses his arm. 

Niall glances to the side. Is he supposed to know that answer? 

"It says I was ignoring you?" He questions. He doesn't know the answer to this one. 

"I don't know where this smart mouth is coming from Horan, but I don't like it, especially 'cause you don't say much," he points his finger. 

Niall nods. He doesn't know where this is going or why it's a big deal. 

The bell rings and Niall goes to walk away. The teacher is saying more but Niall continues to leave. 

He's not supposed to be in his class anymore? Why would he continue to listen?

Sometimes Niall does this. He doesn't realize he's being a smart mouth with teachers until they call his dad. He doesn't mean to be. He just acts normal he thinks. He doesn't want to be rude to people. 

But he just goes by the rules. And what he feels like doing. Teachers just seem to get extremely annoyed.

He knows the teacher is going to be even more mad tomorrow. Oh well. 

The rest of the day for Niall drags. His head hurts from that ball incident still. He's not going to work today just because he doesn't feel it. 

At the end of the day Niall throws all his books including his book bag in his locker. He doesn't have any homework and he hates carrying that damn thing around so he just won't. 

He closes his locker and starts walking out, taking out his phone to put in his headphones since he has to walk home alone. 

"Hey," Niall hears someone approaching and he basically jumps out of his skin. Nobody talks to him. 

He looks over to see Harry jogging over to him. 

Niall looks to his right before looking back to Harry who is looking at him, now directly walking next to him. 

_He thinks I'm someone else, right?_

"Hi," Niall says back but it comes out like he's asking a question. Maybe it's because he kind of is. 

 

Harry stares at him, smiling. Niall starts furrowing his eyebrows. 

"Are you just going to stand there and look all stupid?" Niall asks. 

He almost throws his hand on his mouth. Did he really just say that? He didn't even mean to do. 

Harry then laughs. And it's a beautiful sound, something Niall never was able to hear because of him. It's a nice feeling. 

"You're hilarious. Why haven't I ever talked to you before?" He asks crossing his arms. 

_He's setting me up for something. Murder._

"Because you have never even looked at me. Normally you don't talk to a person you don't look at," Niall shrugs. 

Harry's quietness makes him look up. He's staring at Niall with obvious curiosity.

"Well I'm sorry," he says quietly, with the smallest smirk. 

"Okay," Niall just shrugs, beyond confused. 

Harry coughs awkwardly, "And that shake was pretty good you made for me Saturday. My Grandpa goes there all the time and he told me to get it for him and my Grandma. So I just got us all shakes," he shrugs. 

Niall nods. So it was for him and his Grandparents? Niall thought he was going to have some weird threesome with three large milkshakes. 

He doesn't tell Harry that though. 

"That happened to me once, in eighth grade. Like what happened to you today in gym. The volleyball knocked me straight into the back of the head and I fell down," Harry chuckles. 

_You really had to bring that up?_

"Yeah, I remember," Niall says not even meaning too. Shit. This is exactly why he doesn't talk to people. Especially Harry. 

Speaking of that, why is Harry even trying to make conversation with him at all? This is fucking weird. 

"What do you mean you remember?" Harry asks, running his hand through his hair curiously. 

Great. 

"We were in the same class then too," Niall shrugs. He can't keep talking to him, "Look, I have to go." 

He takes out his headphones to put them into his ear but Harry quickly is stopping him. 

"Woah, what? Since grade school?" He asks. 

"Yeah," Niall sighs, "Since grade school."

Harry furrows his eyebrows, "Hm. I didn't know that." 

"Course you didn't. I don't talk," Niall mumbles. 

"Why?" Harry asks laughing a bit, "You're obviously not shy." 

He just shrugs. That's true. Niall isn't necessarily shy, he just isn't sociable. 

"I don't like to talk to people," he says. 

Half because he will remember every single word for the rest of his life, so if it's a bad conversation then he'll just regret it. He even regrets conversations he has with his parents. 

"That's just weird, Niall," Harry laughs lightly, "How could you not like talking to people?" 

"I don't have to explain myself to you," Niall looks down at his phone. 

Harry laughs a bit louder. Niall doesn't know whats so funny. 

"Damn. What would you say if I said you should rethink that? I think I could be pretty cool to talk to," Harry smiles at Niall. 

Niall gives him a disgusted look. He doesn't even mean to. He's just so overwhelmed. How is he not being completely embarrassing right now? 

"Okay, I guess," Niall forces a quick shy smile. Okay. Now he's getting there. 

Why? Why is this happening?

Harry's opening his mouth to talk again but Niall decides to interrupt him. 

"I'm not weird."

He mentally smacks himself. He didn't seem that weird until he said that. He just doesn't want Harry to think that. He doesn't know. 

Harry laughs again, "Alright, I didn't really think that but thanks for letting me know. I'm not weird, either." 

Niall narrows his eyes. Harry is nicer than he thought. He swore he thought he was an ass. Maybe not. 

This makes him even better. And the fact he actually wants to get to know Niall now. After all these seven years of not even acknowledging him. Crazy. 

"Thanks."

Why'd he say thanks? Fuck. This is why Niall doesn't talk. Now his awkward side is coming out.

Harry laughs. Again. Niall guesses it's not weird. Whenever he glances at Harry he's normally laughing. It's a nice sight. 

"There was no compliment in that, but you're welcome. I'll come around to get a shake more often. You work a lot?" He asks. 

"I run the damn place. It's a family business," he scratches at his arm. 

Niall hasn't even realized he's walking towards his house and Harry is just following. Doesn't he want to get home? Niall sure does. 

"Oh really? Is it like, an Ireland thing?" Harry stupidly asks. 

"No? Since when is having an ice cream place an Ireland thing?" Niall asks. 

Harry chuckles, "Well, sorry. I don't know. I wanted to bring up the Irish in you but I didn't know how."

Niall rolls his eyes, "I'm literally from Ireland. One hundred percent Irish. It's my blood. It's my lifestyle." 

You guessed it. Harry laughs again. "I know, your accent is strong."

Niall nods, "Okay, well I'm trying to get home."

"You really want to get rid of me, don't you?" Harry crosses his arms. 

Niall shrugs, "Yeah." 

Harry smiles at him. Like a genuine smile. He just nods. "I'll see you, Niall." 

"See ya," Niall says watching him walk away. 

He then stops walking slowly. 

What the fuck? Did that just happen? Does Niall even fucking realize?

Niall widens his eyes. He starts hurrying home. 

He slams the ice cream shop open then runs up the stairs. He gets into his actual house part, slamming the door shut. 

"Hey Ni," Andrea says with a smile. 

Niall just makes a weird noise before going into his room, slamming the door shut. 

Okay. He's finally talking to his years crush. But the thing is, he knew about too for the longest time, Harry isn't gay. 


End file.
